The International Comparative Legal Guide to: 2021

Dear Reader,
Welcome to the 2021 edition of ICLG - Oil & Gas Regulation. Ashurst LLP is delighted
to serve as the Guide's Contributing Editor and author of two chapters.
Oil and gas resources not only make a significant contribution to the economy of individual
countries across the world, but also power large segments of industry across
the globe, being a vital fuel and petrochemical source. For this reason, the management
and regulation of oil and gas is a complex area, balancing such diverse and sometimes
conflicting issues as generating national wealth, energy security, environmental
protection, and, in recent years, increasingly, the need to address climate change. It is
a vastly important, fascinating and ever-changing area. It is also very much an international
area, with governments, regulators, oil and gas companies and their advisors alike
looking beyond the confines of national boundaries to consider the oil and gas regulation
landscape across different jurisdictions.
The year 2020 will, undoubtedly, be best remembered as the year of the COVID-19
pandemic, which, at the time of publication, is still adversely impacting human health
and economies across the world. In this edition, we have therefore asked our contributors
to comment on the impact of COVID-19 on the oil and gas industry in their respective
jurisdictions. At the same time, there has been a marked acceleration in the energy
transition, and the oil and gas industry is evolving to respond to this changing energy
landscape. The energy transition is a topic addressed in the Guide, and we expect it will
gain even greater prominence across all jurisdictions in the years to come.
This Guide follows a practical Q&A format, which allows for easy navigation of the
many different facets of oil and gas regulation, and facilitates comparing and contrasting
specific areas in different jurisdictions.
Michael Burns and Julia Derrick
Ashurst LLP